This application is related to my patent application Ser. No. 700,395 filed June 28, 1976, entitled, "RECREATIONAL DEVICE," now U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,188.
Rotating recreational devices, such as the aforementioned patent application, require a combination of skills including balance, pacing, and stamina, to efficiently maneuver the device over a variety of terrain. It has been found in actual tests, that beginners at first have difficulty mastering the various skills required to effect continued use of the device, until they develop these skills in combination. To assist beginners in the operation and use of such devices, it has been found that by providing a convenient means of balance assist, an operator who might fall after his first few steps, is able to traverse with confidence a far greater distance. Once the combined skills have been acquired, such balance assist means are no longer required, and the user is fully capable of traversing large bodies of land or water without the use of this device.
Just as training wheels assist the development of skills required to ride a bicycle, so this balance assist aids training in the use of recreational devices that rotate about the user. Thus, the present invention positions a stable gripping means near the center of the diameter of the rotating recreational device, where it is readily grasped by the user, whether he is short or tall. He need not release his grip on the gripping means as the recreational device rotates. He is free to move to one side or the other within the recreational device to effect a turning motion on the recreational device without having to release his grip on the balance assist.